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Why was my payment declined? Troubleshooting tips

There could be several different reasons you're seeing a decline error message or your payment won't go through.

If your debit or credit card was declined, check to see if:

Your card is expired or out of date—if the card you have on file doesn’t have your current billing address or is expired it will be declined. You can update your card’s expiration and/or your billing address quickly and easily in your PayPal account.

You need to confirm your card—your card may need to go through a confirmation process. Please note if there’s no “confirm credit card” link on your card details page within your PayPal Wallet, you don’t need to complete this step.

Your card company or bank has more information—if the above steps don’t solve the issue, you can call your credit card company to identify the problem. To protect your privacy, your debit or credit card company or card issuer doesn't tell PayPal why your card was declined. If you can still use your card, please try your transaction again.

If your payment won’t process with your bank account or you’re still having problems with your card, try:

Changing your payment method at checkout. If you only have one payment method linked to your PayPal account, you’ll need to add another payment method before you can do this. You can add a credit or debit card or add your bank account. Both options are quick and easy and will give you more flexibility at checkout.

Confirming your recipient’s email address or phone number is entered correctly. Make sure the recipient has finished registering for their PayPal account by confirming their information. A payment will fail if they haven’t completed this process.

There could be several different reasons you're seeing a decline error message or your payment won't go through.

If your debit or credit card was declined, check to see if:

Your card is expired or out of date—if the card you have on file doesn’t have your current billing address or is expired it will be declined. You can update your card’s expiration and/or your billing address quickly and easily in your PayPal account.

You need to confirm your card—your card may need to go through a confirmation process. Please note if there’s no “confirm credit card” link on your card details page within your PayPal Wallet, you don’t need to complete this step.

Your credit card company or bank has more information—if the above steps don’t solve the issue, you can call your card company to identify the problem. To protect your privacy, your debit or credit card company or card issuer doesn't tell PayPal why your card was declined. If you can still use your card, please try your transaction again.

If your payment won’t process with your bank account or you’re still having problems with your card, try:

Changing your payment method at checkout. If you only have one payment method linked to your PayPal account, you’ll need to add another payment method before you can do this. You can add a credit or debit card or add your bank account. Both options are quick and easy and will give you more flexibility at checkout.

Confirming your recipient’s email address or phone number is entered correctly. Make sure the recipient has finished registering for their PayPal account by confirming their information. A payment will fail if they haven’t completed this process.

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